In the first few years of my practice, I was reluctant to introduce myself as a lawyer.

In my mind back then, lawyers were supposed to be smart, looked the part and knew answers to all legal questions. I didn’t feel that way about myself.

There was also fear that if I said something wrong, I somehow put others working with me in difficult positions.

A lot of this fear was unfounded.

Sometimes a client may ask a question that seems simple. However, there may be a lot of background information which lead to the question (and may change the answer) but not disclosed to you.

Or the question may be unclear.

There had been various occasions when someone asked me a question via WhatsApp and I had to ask more questions to clarify and get further information before I could answer that question.

Over the years, I learn that just because someone is confident doesn’t mean that person is right all the time. That person could be confidently wrong.

Seek progress, not perfection. We are all work-in-progress.

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This post was first posted on Linkedin on 7 January 2022.